How to Write an Exceptional Thesis or Dissertation: A Step-by-Step Guide from Proposal to Successful Defense

How to Write an Exceptional Thesis or Dissertation

A Step-By-Step Guide from Proposal to Successful Defense

By J.S. Graustein

How to Write an Exceptional Thesis or Dissertation:

A Step-By-Step Guide from Proposal to Successful Defense

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Graustein, J.S.

How to write an exceptional thesis or dissertation : a step-by-step guide from proposal to successful defense / by J.S. Graustein.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60138-603-8 (alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-60138-603-6 (alk. paper)

1. Dissertations, Academic--Research--Methodology. 2. Academic writing. I. Title.

LB2369.G695 2010

001.4’2--dc22

2010032488

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Acknowledgements:

I would never have started writing this book if it were not for my experience as a graduate student of the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Illinois University. I sincerely thank all the faculty and graduate students from 1992 to 1995 for teaching me how to think and learn, especially the crew that showed me the recuperative power of pool at the Box Office and music by Howard and the White Boys. I would also like to thank the undergraduate students from the same time period, those who assisted me with data-collection and those who allowed me to experiment on them while I learned how to teach. To my adviser, Dr. Carl N. von Ende and my teaching model, Dr. Bethia King, I give special thanks for encouraging me to develop the communicative, organizational, and interpersonal skills that were the eventual basis of my ability to finish writing this book.

Dedication:

To Kurt, for giving me a chair, and Mel, for keeping me in it.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Prepare

Chapter 2: Explore

Chapter 3: Read

Chapter 4: Design

Chapter 5: Propose

Chapter 6: Test

Chapter 7: Analyze

Chapter 8: Write

Chapter 9: Defend

Chapter 10: Share

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Glossary of Methodological Terms

Bibliography

Author Biography

Introduction

Presumably, you picked up this book because you have finished the majority of your graduate coursework and are ready to begin working on your thesis or dissertation, but you are not sure how to go about it. You might also be looking for a way to avoid being another unfinished statistic.

You are certainly not alone. According to the National Center for Education, 625,023 students earned a master’s degree during the 2007 to 2008 academic year. In the same year, 63,712 students earned their doctoral degree. It is easy for students to not finish their graduate work because of the amount of work involved. But, with the right approach, finishing a graduate degree will become less complicated.

Rationale for This Book

So, how long have you worked toward your degree? How much has changed in your life since you began your journey? Life does not pause just because you are in graduate school. Many students take longer than the typical graduate catalog advises. Taking longer to complete the curriculum can create a frustration.

This book is designed to alleviate that frustration by:

Keeping you focused and productive no matter what life throws at you during the thesis/dissertation process.

Preventing wasted time so your actual time spent earning your degree is as close to your initial expectations as possible.

Helping you build a network that will maximize your potential as a student and professional.

Realigning your vision of what a thesis/dissertation is and what you need/want to accomplish from it.

Taking the mystery out of the thesis/dissertation process and demonstrating you can finish.

My Personal Experience

I received my Master of Science degree in 1995 from the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Illinois University. Enrolled full time, I took nine semesters to finish a six-semester program. Considering I was on academic probation after my first semester, it was a miracle I finished at all.

What happened, you ask? I landed on campus with zero idea of what it meant to be a graduate student. My first semester of coursework quickly demonstrated classroom expectations. But, that coursework did not teach me how to read and use academic papers. Thanks to the graduate school catalog, I knew I needed an adviser for the thesis requirement, yet it took me three months of knocking on administrative and departmental doors to figure out advisers were not assigned; it was my job to find one.

When I enrolled, I had wanted to study algae. But because of faculty constraints and a one-month stint in a research lab, I switched to the more realistic topic of wetland plants. My long-suffering adviser, who specialized in aquatic insects, worked outside his comfort zone to help me develop a question of local significance. He also helped me acquire research locations and connections to local experts.

My fellow graduate students invited me to unofficial seminars where we read and discussed academic papers, thus teaching me one essential skill I lacked — the ability to analyze sources. One student in particular, who you will meet later in a Case Study, mentored me in organization and departmental politics. I also tagged along on various data-collection jaunts, helping doctorate candidates and myself at the same time. I never would have finished my degree without this peer network.

My thesis project involved growing wetland plants on a patch of land the university owned. I spent my first field season learning about the invasive grass and native sedge I was to study. This immediately banished any thought of finishing in six semesters. But, even the most knowledgeable and prepared person cannot prevent acts of God from interfering with timetables. My second field season was hampered by drought; I had to water my study subjects with a 5-gallon watering can to keep them alive. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of watering one experimental set from a pond filled with tadpoles and the other from a frog-free creek, essentially adding an unintentional water-quality variable to an already multivariate design. Fortunately, I remembered to record the event in my field notebook, as the protein-rich, live fertilizer could have impacted the growth of one batch. It certainly made for a funny story during my defense.

What should have been my third field season was preempted by flood and an impending move. Thanks to my creative committee, though, I had managed to conduct a greenhouse experiment the previous winter and spring that padded my miserable excuse for summer data so I could successfully defend and earn my degree anyway — two weeks before I was to relocate to California for my husband’s new job. I successfully defended, made my revisions, filed my thesis, moved cross-country, and then flew back for the graduation ceremony. My adviser threw a party at his home to celebrate; brats and beer never tasted so good.

How to Use This Book

As a graduate student, you have already read copious amounts of material, so adding a thick how-to book to your stack might seem like a big task. But, this book is designed to be read and followed chapter by chapter. It should serve as a guide as you complete the process of writing your dissertation or thesis. You will master concepts and working habits as you go, building on prior-chapter skills as you develop new ones.

Each chapter contains tasks associated with the core elements of a successful thesis/dissertation, elements that are interdependent and continuous throughout the process. These elements are:

Topic: Everything from your broad interests to your specific research problem

Literature: The vast and ever-expanding record of knowledge about your topic

Assistance: The giving and receiving of help in a variety of contexts

Data: The designing, collecting, and analyzing of information pertaining to your research problem

Written work: Notes, outlines, proposal, and the main scholarly work

Organization: Time management, scheduling, filing, and disaster recovery

Because this book by its nature must force a fairly nonlinear process into a linear framework, each chapter will end with a list of tasks from that chapter grouped by phases. Each phase within a chapter may or may not have tasks from every element. The nice thing about the grouping is it gives you choices when you are stuck in that I should be doing something for my thesis right now, but I do not know what mode. You will be more likely to get something done if you can choose from a list rather than bang away at the one item you do not feel like doing.

Chapter titles are written in the imperative to keep you focused while completing each stage of the research process. For instance, if you are in Chapter 8, but you find yourself spending five hours in the library doing literature searches at the level of Chapter 3, stop. Remind yourself it is time to write, not read. When you actually finish your degree, you will be glad you did.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Prepare

This chapter will be like taking a massive breath before diving into the deep end of a pool. You will prepare yourself for the expectations, requirements, and functions of theses and dissertations. You will walk through the first steps of choosing a topic and accessing the academic literature for your future topic. And, because you presumably have never written a thesis/dissertation before, this chapter will help you find the wealth of assistance available from faculty, support services, and other graduate students. Statistical anxiety, lack of organization, and degree-threatening disaster can be conquered by a little preparation, laid out in this book.

Topic: Choosing a focus

Choice of topic is the most important aspect of the thesis/dissertation process. Topic drives your choice of research problem, and your research problem drives everything else: the literature you read, the methodology you design, even the professional network you build. So although it may be possible to finish quickly using a ready-made topic within a professor’s specialty, be sure it is in the vicinity of what you intend to pursue after graduation. This topic will be the foundation of your career; make sure it can support the house you want to live in.

From broad interest to main topic

To start your thinking process, take a look at your department’s faculty directory on your university’s website. Chances are each professor is listed by name and research specialty. They are all studying within the same discipline, but they have found niches for themselves where they can make a difference. Now it is your turn to find yourself a niche.

Areas of interest from your coursework

It takes nine to 15 hours of coursework to prepare for thesis research and more for dissertation research. You have already narrowed down your interest by selecting that coursework. What are the most fascinating things you learned during those courses?

Jot the first ten that pop into your head on the nearest scrap of paper.

Place a star next to any items you found supremely easy to understand.

Place a star next to any items you found yourself thinking about long after class was over.

Check your list against the research specialties of your department’s faculty, and place a star next to any items that match.

With any luck, you found at least five matches, considering someone from the department probably taught the courses that piqued your interest. Check to see if there are any items that have multiple stars next to them. These could be some topics you might want to keep in mind for later.

Constraints

Interest and research speciality alone are not the only considerations when selecting a topic. Practical constraints must be taken under consideration. Narrow down the list from the previous section by taking the following actions:

Place a star next to the matched items whose faculty are teaching full time rather than adjunct (associated with the university but not necessarily on a tenure track) or emeritus (retired but still retaining office space and/or a limited course load).

Place a star next to any items from courses in which you got along with the professor.

Place a star next to any items that have local significance.

If travel is an issue for you, cross out any items that would require travel in order to collect data.

If time is an issue for you, cross out any items that would require repeated data collection over the course of several years.

If you found an item interesting yet difficult to understand, cross it out. The research process itself is fraught with frustration. These items would be better suited to post-degree research.

On a fresh sheet of paper, write down the three items with the most stars. If any are tied for third place, write down all the tied items. If the list has nothing but crossed out items, jot down a new list of ten fascinating things, and start over. Eventually, you will end up with a list of three potential topics. Be sure you are comfortable with all three before moving on.

Basic versus applied approaches

Think for a moment about why you chose to embark on your graduate degree journey. Was it for career advancement? Was it to solve a problem and make a difference in the world? Was it because you are intensely curious and never want to stop learning? Knowing your core reason for seeking a graduate degree will help you focus on which side of the research road you want to start: basic or applied.

Basic research is research for the sake of knowing something. It is sometimes referred to as pure research; it benefits the human race by exploring the whys and hows of life, thus feeding the need to understand the world. Applied research, on the other hand, is research for the sake of discovering or improving something. Applied research is sometimes referred to as practical research; it benefits the human race by finding solutions to problems, thus making life easier to live.

For instance, lettuce varieties that show resistance to aphid attack would be studied with an applied approach. The popularity of backyard gardening throughout the last century would lend itself to a basic approach. Both research topics have the potential to involve lettuce and gardening. But, the aphid topic focuses on what can be done in the future to solve a problem, while the popularity topic focuses on what has happened in the past, why it might have happened that way, and what might happen in the future.

Which approach interests you more? If you entered graduate school for advancement opportunities or to make a difference, you will most likely be attracted to a topic that lends itself to applied questions. If you entered graduate school because of insatiable curiosity, you will most likely be drawn to a topic that serves to further your knowledge of your interests. However, either topic is legitimate as long as you will be happy and invested in the result.

Look over your top-three list from the previous section, and write applied or basic next to each item. If you see an item that could be researched using either approach, write both next to it. If you are strongly attracted to one approach, circle the items with that label. Hopefully, you have at least one topic circled. Regardless, move on to the next section. Please note you may wish to repeat the listing procedure as you learn more during the entire preparation stage.

Literature: Finding Sources of Potential Topics

Whether the above listing process yielded any viable topics, surveying the local research landscape will prepare you for interactions with experts you may encounter during your thesis/dissertation journey. For the purpose of this discussion, the term local experts refers to anyone within easy driving distance who has experience in your discipline. Local experts can:

Open doors for you in accessing data or study populations

Alert you to snags you may find in the literature or topics about which you won’t find much literature

Provide you with pre-research orientation opportunities

Provide you with other contacts that could result in job placement after graduation

These valuable people may be faculty or experienced doctorate candidates within your department; employees or experienced volunteers of local agencies; educators; or even small-business owners. Making an appointment to discuss their experiences can yield an amazing array of potential topics for your research. Scheduled at their convenience, these conversations will not be an imposition; people love talking about their passions.

Areas of specialty within your department

Most university websites not only list faculty and their research specialties but their recent publications as well. As you read through the titles of their recent research:

Note any that grab your attention, including enough bibliographic information so you may locate the study at a later date.

If the professor who wrote a noted study has tenure, place a star next to it because that professor’s employment is likely to be stable.

If you have enjoyed a course taught by the professor that wrote a noted study, place a star next to it.

Record names of co-authors on the study, and find out if they are professors at another university or graduate students from yours.

Take out your list from the previous section, and circle any topics that correspond to this recently published research.

The Access to research section of this chapter will discuss how you may access the studies you marked as most interesting.

Areas of interest from local agencies

Local agencies work tirelessly on a limited budget. They may have encountered problems